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Adviser tool for irrigation and fertilizer

New tool advises users on irrigation, fertiliser needs

“It calculates water demands at different periods of the crop season.” – Peter Okoth

by Dorcas Odhiambo

Speed read

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Farmers in Africa are set to benefit from an online tool offering advice on services such as irrigation and fertiliser use.

The internet portal known as Smart Irrigator computes crops’ daily water requirements.

According to Peter Okoth, Kenya-based consultant in research and agronomy and one of the brains behind it, the technology which was launched on 8 September aims to increase efficiency of irrigation systems.

“It calculates water demands at different periods of the crop season,” Okoth tells SciDev.Net, noting that “the tool considers factors such as rooting depth and the maximum allowable loss of water.”
Okoth, says that users and farmers can register their names, location, soil texture, date of planting in the portal while also selecting crop of choice for irrigation water advice. “The information is sent to the subscribed farmers’ phone in text form [and] the farmer pays a monthly fee of US$5-10 to obtain the data and information.”